Apparently I’ve been mistaken…

Genny, my lovely twelve year old, has been walking around this house treating me, and occasionally her dad, like complete crap. In fact, only when she is involved in exactly what she wants to be doing- is she nice at all. Upon finishing school, her summer days have looked like this:

1) lay around and read.

2) Watch a movie or some tv.

3) lay around and read.

4) hang out with a friend.

5) sleep til ten.

6) lay around and read.

When reminded to do a chore, she simply says “K”, and retreats to her room to… yep, you guessed it: lay around and read!

Considering her injury, (which I’ll remind my readers, happened AT A SUMMER PARTY, with her friends and a slip and slide) we’ve been a little lenient on what responsibilities she has. Chw even mowed the lawn, which he HATES to do, while she was sad because she loves it.

Here’s the thing though…

She just got her first cell phone.*

And, just in time for vacation, an iPod touch*.

She started off this week at a sleepover.

The kid somehow manages to score a Sonic Happy Hour drink almost every day.

The girl leads a charmed life.

So this morning, when she wakes up and is right off the bat wickedly mouthed and hateful I asked her “why?” Her response knocked me off my feet and I still can’t seem to close my jaw properly…

I just get so mad because my life is so hard and it isn’t fair!!!!

Huh…

And here I thought I had it bad… What with the cooking, and the cleaning WHILE working from home… With the being treated like garbage by the only person I see consistently every day; and the driving (in a hot car) to the parties and the birthday celebrations and the sleepovers and the movie theater…

I guess I’ve been wrong.

* there are people, even in our daily lives going: What??? How could you get her a cell phone? Well, as we’ve told them I felt the need to also tell the world- we’ve been really responsible about it. It was actually her brother’s phone, before he left for Germany. AND it has amazing parental features. For instance, she has 12 contacts. The rest of the phone is locked. She cannot text. She cannot add contacts. She cannot call anyone BUT her contact, nor can she receive calls from anyone other than her contacts. It’s amazing…

* as for the iPod touch. The same, sensibly concerned people seem to be concerned with the internet options on the iPod. Well, proud to say those are blocked too. She has movies and videos on there, which are nice for car rides and such. BUT she’s only 12. She needs parental guidance…

7 thoughts on “Apparently I’ve been mistaken…”

We just got our 11 year old a phone and he's had a Touch for about a year. We have rules like times when they are both turned off at night. They both charge in the living room (not his room). He isn't allowed to use the internet on the touch in his room, public viewing only. He has unlimited texting, but we read all texts before he can delete. We also go through his contacts and approve/disapprove. Usually he asks if he can add a contact if it's someone other than a friend he sees regularly.He knows that we pay the bills, our rules. He also knows if he looses the phone he can replace it with his own money, or use one of our old phones.It's the year 2011 technology is taking over the world. We're choosing to teach our kids how to use it responsibly. Now the 7 year olds? They can't keep up with ANYTHING, they may not have a phone til they are 30 ;)

Exactly! I see these completely sheltered kids emerge from their parents grasp and they have no idea how to handle anything. We baby step and start here. There isn't anything online that Gen can't use our family computer for… And honestly, she can't text because we don't trust her. She's proven with notes (hand written) that she isn't responsible enough to handle the privilege of texting.

Oh. what to say? What encouragement to give? good days, bad days, and all that crap? A poster with a kitty haning on a laundry line? You do what you do, and that's all you can do. So keep a doing it and pick your battles, cause, I can tell, there's a lot to choose from. And I love all the controls on the phone and Ipod, cause your awesome like that, Is there a class on how to how to teach kids to be grateful? My kids would so be in that class.

My hubs and I have an 11yr old daughter and have the same things happening in our house. We also gave her a cell phone and had teh same parental controls but the smart little thing she is figured out how to unlock the settings and got busted using it to chat with her friends past bedtime. Grrr. She no longer has a cell phone. :)